Art of Persuasion
by Resistant Raisin
Summary: A small drabble on what it's like for demon!Ciel to make a contract. ModernAU.


**Warning: Language, Violence, Adult Themes/Content**

**Pairings: None**

**Beta: None**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler or Criminal Minds.**

**o~o~o~O~o~o~o**

Lying among the eerie yet beautiful lush black roses that grew across the vast hilltop were two demons. One was a spindly male dressed in a pristine black suit and shiny black Oxfords who sat cross-legged in the soft, silver grass. Long strands of silky black hair framed his thin face, a few loose strands that swayed in the gentle breeze hung over his rusty red.

Resting his head in the lap of the former another small, child-like demon dressed in grey suit and dress shoes that were a shade lighter than his hair, allowed the elder demon to vacantly finger a strand of his hair. The younger demon payed no mind as he stared hollowly at the black endless sky with one crimson eye, the other eye covered with a black eye patch to hide its vibrant purple color.

"Sebastian," the small demon mused with a sigh, an authoritative tone still set in his voice despite the idle words "How could you live like this; having to wait so long for another high quality meal?"

The other demon, Sebastian, replied in an even voice. "I have forgotten, Ciel."

The younger demon, Ciel, let out a small grunt in return and resumed his impassive stare at the sky. He hadn't had the taunt in mind when he first spoke, it more so just flowed out of him with no reason. However, as soon as the words left his lips, a devious thought formed. He wanted something entertaining to happen for once, and a rise out of Sebastian would do just the trick. He wanted Sebastian to lash out and scream at him that it was all his fault that the elder demon had forgotten the taste of any sort of meal from being starved for so long, a little destructive tantrum really. However, he got the same painfully dull, detestable answer as the last time he asked: a monotone, mindless answer to conceal corked up resentment.

The next minutes spent in accustomed silence between the two was broken when a faint, pleading voice tickled Ciel Phantomhive's ear. Sure, Hell was constantly filled with screams from this realm and the Earth's- it was a given for living with the man downstairs- but, they had long become background noise. Yet, this one frail, terrorized entreat sounded so much_ sweeter_ and more _delicious_ than any other cry for help or salvation. Like any hungry demon would do, he followed it.

"Sebastian," Ciel commanded, sitting up straight and looking off in the distance at an unseen destination. "I want her."

"Yes, Young Master," Sebastian answered dutifully, scooping his overlord up into his arms, one arm under the adolescent's knees and one arm around his shoulders.

Entirely used to the bridal style hold, Ciel pushed himself closer to Sebastian's chest as, with a giant leap, they soared from the flourishing field and into the next realm.

**o~O~o**

Appearing at the base of a broad, steep cliff in one of the irregular, pitch-black shadows cast by the pale moonlight that hung in the clouded night sky, Ciel surveyed in the scene.

A feeble young woman, seventeen by his guess, was curled on the red desert floor, rocking back and forth in the fetal position. Wearing only a flimsy, stain-covered white nightgown, endless shivers overtook her as the merciless freezing temperatures of the desert shrouded her. The thin, shallow cuts along the bottom of her bare feet and ankles revealed that she had been running across the barren desert for hours on end, leaving the faint copper smell of blood in the air that only Ciel could pick up. Tangling her pale fingers in her jet black, greasy, knotted hair and burying her cracked yellowish nails into her scalp, she looked as if she were trying to claw open her skull. Though no words came from her, Ciel could hear her prayers of savior suffusing and echoing in his mind; only adding to her, _oh _so _appetizing_, pained hiccups that escaped between her labored breaths and suffocating tears.

The young demon mentally thanked himself for sending Sebastian away and coming on the hunt alone. Now, his eternal butler wasn't here to relentlessly tease him about the ravenous look in his eyes or famished growl that formed in the back of his throat.

"You called?" Ciel announced softly and gently as to not frighten the girl anymore than she was, trying his best to obviate the permanent dominance to his tone. He took a slow step halfway out of the shadows, only allowing the front half of his body to be seen, and put on a mask of concern.

The girl quickly spun on her knees at the sound of his presence, the small sharp rocks adding more red slashes to her knees and shins, and faced him. Her red puffy eyes widened and she scrambled backwards on her hands and feet at the sight of him.

"W-Who are you?" She whispered fearfully in an almost inaudible voice, too weak to speak any louder, as she took turns using the heel of her each hand to rub away the lustrous tear stains from her flushed cheeks.

Taking another step and completely revealing himself in the moonlight, he answered her in an almost prideful voice. "I'm the savior you pleaded for, my dear."

"Y-You're just a-a little boy..." This time she began to shake from fear instead of the cold and Ciel offered a small smile. "H-How did you g-get out h-here?"

"I am not just a boy, I am a... divine being."

"A-An angel?"

"Close, but not quite there."

In an instant, Ciel easily dropped his mask of concern and solace to reveal his true dark nature. Though his actions were the same, the slight changes completely altered his aura. His comforting, trusting smile twisted into a malicious grin that seemed to threaten to split his face in two. His slow steps remained at the same pace, but hit the ground more solidly and confidently in a menacing way. His eyes narrowed and turned his sympathetic gaze into a judgmental, hungry stare as if inspecting a pig before slaughter.

"My 'brothers' are." The demon shrugged nonchalantly as if they were merely discussing the weather. "But, no, I'm not of godly origins; quite the opposite actually. Either way, that doesn't change the fact I'm here to grant you your wishes."

"Y-You're a d-demon?" The girl squeaked in realization, shaking like a leaf in the wind and barely able to keep her arms supporting upper body.

"That's what I've been told, but, miss, I can be whoever you want."

The girl whirled around and began to frantically crawl away on her hands and knees, stumbling back down every time she attempted to stand straight, not having enough energy or balance to stay up.

"Aw, don't be that way. Where would you run? You _are_ in the middle of a desert." Ciel suddenly appeared in front of the girl, causing her to halt in her tracks and drop to her knees in defeat. He bent into a deep bow and he offered a pale hand, his sinister smile a stark contradiction to her look of absolute horror. "You asked for help, did you not?

"B-But I asked for he-lp from _God_, from a-an _angel_. N-Not a..."

No matter how igniting her quivering breath brushing his own face was or how badly he wanted to shred her apart, which he wanted to so _desperately_, he kept himself in check and maintained his composure.

"I suppose the "Almighty" Lord was too busy to help a divine girl like yourself. But, who needs Him? I can do far more than those fatuous angels for a _hell_ of a lower price."

"N-No... I don't..." Ciel mental applauded himself as he sensed her hesitation.

His next words were like a parasite, wiggling its way deeper into the host's brain and gaining more control over her. "I truly am sorry- trust me I know the feeling- but I'm the only chance you have. Your help is here, so why not accept it? Let's make a deal."

"A-A deal?" She managed to stop her hot tears from flowing, but hiccups still escaped her. Yes, he broke her.

"It's simple: I make all of your wildest dreams come true and in return, I get your soul once your one, true wish is fulfilled. So, what is it that you desire?"

The human shakily placed a hand over her heart, and stared him straight in the eye, a sinful flare of determination flashed in her hazel eyes, replacing the self-pity and fear. "I-I want revenge... on the m-man that did this to me. I want him to s-suffer like I-I did... Humiliate him, ac-cuse him, bre-ak him. W-When, and onl-ly when, has he g-gone insane with self-loathing d-do you kill h-him."

Ciel held back an esurient snarl. He didn't know whether to murder or thank this mysterious man that the girl spoke of. Yes, Ciel wanted so dearly to rip out the man's heart for torturing this child (an act that what little of humanity that remained in him, truly loathed with a passion). On the other hand, her torturer gave this girl's soul such a_ distinctive_, _unpassable_ aroma that Ciel's hunger overpowered that humane shred; so, that he didn't care how she came to be as long as he would be able to devour her.

"Splendid..." Ciel took her freezing, bony hand and pulled shakily her to her feet, allowing her to lean some of her weight against him in spite of the awkward height difference. "Now, we must mark our bodies with the contract seal. The more visible the place where the seal is, the stronger its power."

"Put it w-wherever you l-like. I just p-power stronger than an-ybody else's."

"Quite greedy for such an age. Very well, let's put it on one of those sorrow filled eyes of yours."

Slowly, Ciel's malicious smirk faded and left only a deadly stare. Suddenly snatching her head with one hand, the girl released a torturous scream as his nails turned black and elongated into deadly sharp talons that pierced her scalp and face, drawing crimson streams of blood. She began to fall backwards as an excruciating, burning pain struck her right eye, but Ciel pressed a hand in between her shoulder blades and only allowed her to arch her back into a shallow dip.

Her harrowing scream was abruptly cut off as she fell limp in Ciel's arms.

Oops, he forgot how fragile the human body was. It had been a good long time since he came to this realm...

If it weren't for his inhuman strength then she would have dropped to the ground. Instead he gently lowered her to the desert floor, cradling her upper body to him. Pushing a few strands of hair out of her bloody face and raising her right eyelid with his thumb, he admired his work. On her glassy eye glowed a ruby red pentagram surrounded by a ring of rose thorns. Removing his silky eye patch, divulging his own purple contract symbol that almost perfectly mirrored his prey's, he smoothly tied the patch onto her.

"Congratulations, my lord," a voice called from behind Ciel. Despite the commending words, the praise turned bland and meaningless by his impassive tone. "I must say this situation does seem rather familiar."

"Jealous, Sebastian?" Ciel mocked, ignoring his butler's last comment, as he inspected new crimson contract symbol, an exact copy of the girl's that tattooed itself onto the back of his hand.

"Certainly not, sir."

Ciel could hear his servant's footstep crunch against the rugged desert floor as he approached him. Now stepping up to his side, Sebastian gently pulled the unconscious girl from younger demon's arms and lifted her up bridal style.

"Shall we find shelter, my lord?" Sebastian asked quietly as to not disturbed the demons' newest possessor.

Standing up straight and brushing off red dust from his clothes, Ciel stared out at the vast desert thoughtfully. "Yes... but where will we go?"

Sebastian chuckled lightly, much to his annoyance. "What kind of butler would I be if I could not find refuge for my young master?"

"Honestly..." Ciel flashed a glare at Sebastian and grimaced. "If I hear you say that string of words again, I'm going to _hit_ you."

Nodding his head to signal that his master should follow, Sebastian turned and began to walk back to the shadow cast by the cliff, bluntly ignoring his master's ultimatum. "It is something that you should live by when you are under a contract."

"Hush up..." Ciel childishly muttered under his breath with a roll of his eyes as the two vanished into the shadows.

**o~o~o~O~o~o~o**

**Oh... The irony of the situation...**

**Welp! This was the top vote on my profile for which story I should write next and I've had this collecting dust in the bowels of my computer, so I decided it was high time that I posted it. Thanks to everybody who voted for this and I hope it lives up to your expectations!**

**I would also like to say that I am open to any constructive criticism or questions. May it be an error in spelling or use of slang or even something completely off-putting. Contact be through a review or a pm and I'll be happy to reply and improve.**

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